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Order for the Confiscation of Jewish Property in Salonika

Commander of Salonika-Aegean
Military Administration Department

Re: Jewish Property
In regard to your letter of the 20th of this month, 1943, protocol no. 181:

To: The General Government of Macedonia,
Office for the Affairs of Jewish Property
S a l o n i k a

In accordance with higher orders, the ownership of all Jewish property that was or is to be found in the Salonika-Aegean area of command is hereby transferred to the Greek state, represented by the Governor General of Macedonia. The Greek State shall hand over the administration of this special property to trustee agents, for whose appointment special instructions have already been given. The trustee agent for all formerly Jewish-owned movables is the Greek Agricultural Bank in Salonika. The trustee agents on behalf of the Greek administration are entitled to make use of the assets entrusted to them as if they were their own. They may sell goods, acquire new goods, etc. They may also do as they please with the real estate connected to the businesses handed over to them. This, however, requires the prior consent of the Greek Agricultural Bank in Salonika. The previous contradictory instructions, which prohibited the transfer of Jewish movables to others, are nullified by the above orders. The trustee agents must continue to manage the businesses in the same scope in which they have been managed thus far, and may not liquidate the businesses. On the contrary, they must ensure that business activity is conducted as before and even endeavor, wherever possible, to expand it.

Please acknowledge receipt of this letter promptly.

On behalf of the commander of Salonika-Aegean
Chief of Staff
(Signed), [Maximilian] Merton
Advisor to the Military Administration

Source: Yad Vashem